Council want to house us opposite paedos!!

[Ilovepugs2017]

I’ll try and cut a long story short.
We are at risk of homelessness due to our landlord wanting to sell. Our section 21 ran out in July.
we have been bidding on properties every week with no luck.
The council bid on a property on our behalf in our local area (for personal reasons I didn’t bid on this particular property - issues with threats of assault from someone living on the same street as the one advertised).
anyway we were no.2 in the queue and couldn’t withdraw the bid which gave me huge anxiety. I’d even emailed the housing officer to say I didn’t bid for personal reasons.
2 weeks later which is today they have called and offered us the property. They have said if we refuse to take it they will help us no further!!
my partner has been to speak to a couple of the neighbours and they have said to be warned that a couple of convicted paedos live opposite the back entrance!

we have three young children how is this acceptable?
Im going to refuse the house and appeal!
anxiety is through the roof!! :(
anyone been through similar?

I suspect there's some truth in this for some people.

I can see that

I think you're right. It definitely wasn't like this on MN even 4/5 years ago.

I see it working with young people- so, so much anxiety all the time.

If you’re a landlord, you’re scum, and if you’re a council tenant, you’re also scum apparently.

this an absolutely false representation of the thread.
Some people don't know that the only way to get a council house (HA house) is to be either actually homeless, or nearly homeless. If you are evicted under a section 21 all advice from homeless charities and local councils is: stay put, pay rent, and wait for the actual eviction to happen. Some councils will only act at that point, others will start at the first hint of the eviction notice.

Where some posters have issues, and it is not unjustified, is the OPs blithe indifference to the fact that neither she nor her partner have a full-time job, they have 3 children, and want to turn down the rocking-horse-shit of council properties: a house big enough for them.

And as plenty of posters have pointed out: paedophiles are everywhere, the really dangerous ones are the ones you don't know about. And the neighbour may just not want a family with children moving in. And as of now the OP hasn't actually said how credible the threat of violence is, and how it was actually handled outside of a vague "it was part of a court case". Sure there have been some pretty goady posts, but she's been equally flippant and rude in return and seems to be holding her own.

This

And as of now the OP hasn't actually said how credible the threat of violence is, and how it was actually handled outside of a vague "it was part of a court case"

Nor has she said how recent it was. And that could be highly relevant

I mean, i don't want the OP to get a pile on and there has been some good advice in this thread.

Equally OP wants to be careful that her interactions with the housing officers aren't similar to the ones here with people she doesn't agree with because that will probably put their backs up.
When people who know more about these things, including Shelter who are the experts, say: do this. The best thing is to do that. Which means: moving into the house, and then applying for a swap or another move.

I suspect the threat of violence isn't seen as credible. And i hope that's not doing the OP a disservice and he really is running around looking to give her a good thumping.

I think it's a misunderstanding of how to manage anxiety, also. Using anxiety to avoid uncomfortable situations, actually increases it and makes your life even smaller because you start avoiding even more things to stay 'safe' from things that weren't that dangerous in the first place. And yet you consistently see anxiety used as a get out of jail free card to avoid all kinds of things, from getting buses, to going to weddings, to applying for jobs.

Anxiety is not a rare phenomenon. We all have it to a greater or lesser extent. Using it to avoid life is not a helpful long term strategy.

This is so very interesting. Management seems to be the key.

My own DS (15) recently stated he had 'social anxiety' in a situation he didn't want to be in. He doesn't have social anxiety, he was just a bit uncomfortable. I told him as much and he coped fine. The language seems to be everywhere and the young pick it up.

I'm impressed by the number of self described landlords on this thread who don't know how the rental market works, how social housing works or that both vary by area. Landlords who think social housing is subsidised by their hard earned rental tax (if they pay it). Impressed also at landlords who think their tenants should undertake building repairs and that tradesmen will happily do work without the landlord's consent.

I'm even more impressed that apparently they think the OP partner is a lazy fecker but therefore totally suitable for care work because obviously care work is unskilled busy work for idlers and needs no qualifications or vocation to do it.🙄

But yes the message is clear - the real victims here are BTL landlords who can't actually afford to run a business when costs change. Pretty much the lack of planning of which they accuse OP when having three children and living in rented.

yeah, you don't actually know what an eviction is or how a s21 works do you

and yet! so much breezy, overconfident nastiness

It's important to bear in mind that "sex offender" does not automatically mean "paedophile". The latter is a subset of the former.

Many convicted sex offenders won't have offended against children, and probably aren't a risk to them. They could be on the sex offenders register for having sex with a 15 year old when they were 17 (although that is less likely these days), for installing cameras and videoing themselves having sex with consenting sex partners, for exposure on the street, for rape, for sexual offences against animals, or other offences.

So while there are a lot of paedophiles unfortunately (many unconnected), the police chief wasn't saying there is one in most streets.

Unconnected should be unconvicted

The victim blaming on this thread is horrific.

Who are you seeing as the victim? The couple who can’t be bothered to get a proper job, who have three children and who have just been offered a nice council house?

Have you accepted the house? @Ilovepugs2017

We have yes. Its a stepping stone for now. The council are aware of the situation with the threats. Hopefully we will have no hassle 🙏

Wow - lots of messages! Just wanted to say a thank you to the people who have been supportive on here and offered constructive advise and not been abusive or judgemental ❤️

Good news that you've accepted the house OP.
I hope it all goes well.

Great update. I hope your concerns are unjustified @Ilovepugs2017

Thank you both 🙏

Well done, I hope it works out for you and your family.

Well done OP. Good luck with the move!

Congrats! Hope it all works out for you 😊

I agree. I'm not saying you dismiss the discomfort or ridicule the person, but as you say, not escalate it into a disorder, when it's just a natural feeling we all experience.